Warehouses are getting closer to people

The growing e-commerce market and the demand for express logistics services are rapidly changing social habits, the Polish economy, and the urban landscape. Properly planned and constructed warehouse facilities are an essential component of their sustainable future.

The warehouse real estate market in Poland is gaining momentum, and with it, the integration of sustainability principles into the strategies of warehouse developers and tenants. Retail, logistics, industrial, and technology companies are increasingly generating profits and developing business models that meet environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) criteria, including within their supply chains. This translates—directly and indirectly—into growing benefits for the broader community: the economy, the environment, and people.

Tenants' Liability 

On the one hand, we have never before had access to such efficient and widespread digital and delivery services, or to such technologically advanced, cost-effective, and automated logistics and warehousing facilities, systems, and solutions. On the other hand, so much has never depended on logistics companies occupying warehouse space or other rapidly growing tenants— data centers. Today, vast numbers of consumers and businesses, even entire economic sectors, depend on their management practices and efficient processes and operations.

The several-week-long blockage of container ship traffic in the Suez Canal and its global repercussions for the supply chain, as well as the transport and trade paralysis in the United Kingdom caused by a shortage of truck drivers—these are just the most high-profile recent examples of events that highlight the importance of warehouse tenants’ responsibilities. They also show how easily the vastness of today’s extensive and complex network of commercial and business interdependencies escapes public attention on a daily basis when everything goes according to plan.

However, monitoring and managing potential business and ESG risks for tenants—such as those related to the human factor or the trap of routine thinking—are a key focus for warehouse developers. At 7R, even at the design stage preceding the project’s implementation, we consider future needs and the high standards that future tenants or facility owners will have to meet, both immediately after occupying the space and in the years to come.

Express shipping  

A lot has changed and will continue to change—and very quickly. The online channel—which has been booming during the pandemic thanks to an increasingly diverse and innovative range of offerings, including delivery services—already accounts for over 15 percent of retail sales in Poland. According to consulting firm PwC, the domestic e-commerce market could see average annual growth of around 12% over the next five years, with the fastest growth expected in the food, health, and beauty categories.

Both of these e-commerce categories rely particularly heavily on a specific type of delivery: express shipping. These are handled by last-mile facilities—smaller, often multifunctional Small Business Unit (SBU) buildings located in cities and adjacent to residential neighborhoods or office complexes, ensuring fast and seamless deliveries from much larger distribution centers as well as returns to them.

The number of last-mile facilities will continue to grow. Given their location and nature, these facilities in particular will need to meet the highest standards of environmentally friendly construction and support sustainable urban development in the future.

A new but familiar standard 

For years, we have been committed to helping our tenants achieve their sustainability goals. We design and build facilities to minimize the environmental and social impact of the companies that will eventually use the warehouse space—offsetting their potential negative footprint (not just their carbon footprint) and amplifying their positive impact.

In the coming years, a similar increase in interest in the social and environmental sustainability of buildings in Poland can also be expected in the data center sector. For data centers, this means, for example, creating state-of-the-art yet flexible security measures and solutions that support the energy and climate transition and protect sensitive ICT infrastructure.